TacticScaleWhat Ares Management Does & How It Makes Money (ARES)
Updated October 2026 · reflects Ares Management's latest reported financials
Global alternative asset manager focused on private credit, equity and real estate. As an alternative asset manager, Ares earns money by managing investment capital across its credit, private equity and real estate strategies.
How Ares Management makes money
As an alternative asset manager, Ares earns money by managing investment capital across its credit, private equity and real estate strategies. It typically collects management fees on the capital it oversees and performance-based income when its investments do well.
What Ares Management does
Ares Management Corporation is an alternative asset manager founded in 1997 and headquartered in Los Angeles. It works through three main groups. Direct Lending provides financing to small and mid-sized companies. Private Equity makes majority, minority and shared-control investments across venture stages, buyouts, recapitalizations, growth capital, mezzanine and distressed situations, mainly in under-capitalized companies in healthcare, services, energy, industrials and consumer. The Real Estate Group invests in new developments and in repositioning existing properties, preferring control or majority-control positions, and it also originates its own loans for middle-market commercial property owners and operators. The firm typically invests $1 million to $500 million in companies with EBITDA of $10 million to $250 million, and its debt investments typically range from $10 million to $100 million. It invests across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Products & services
- Direct lending to small and mid-sized companies
- Private equity (buyouts, growth capital, recapitalizations, distressed)
- Mezzanine and debt investments
- Real estate development and repositioning investments
- Commercial real estate financing for middle-market owners
What is Ares Management worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, Ares Management's most-likely value is about $297 versus a recent price near $117 (153% below fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$81) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
⚠ High leverage — net debt is 6.1× annual cash flow. Net debt is subtracted from this fair value, but refinancing at higher rates, principal timing, and share dilution aren’t modeled — the equity can be worth far less if cash flow weakens.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
Related companies
Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) · Apollo Global Management (APO) · Acadian Asset Management (AAMI) · Artisan Partners Asset Management (APAM) · Affiliated Managers (AMG)